


Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues

by Neathra



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Catholic Theology, Drabble Collection, Gen, Personified Virtues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 23:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15060233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neathra/pseuds/Neathra
Summary: Newton's Third Law states that "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".  Consequently, when Father cast off his sins, he accidentally created seven opposite virtues.  Allow them to introduce themselves.Seven drabbles, each about a different Virtue. Name lovingly stolen from a presentation by Bishop Robert Barron.





	Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues

**Author's Note:**

> And so I begin the transitioning over of my writing from Fanfiction/Fictionpress. This is the first, because honestly it was the most recent, and the writing was still bearable to edit. (I'm seeing a lot of rewriting in my future.)

** Humility **

Hannah is the oldest. That means she's stuck as the leader. The role model, who has six impressionable people looking to her for guidance. She's not the smartest, or the most helpful. She has fits of laziness, self-centeredness, and self-pity. At best, she'll snap at her siblings when they interrupt her. All Hannah knows is to admit she's not perfect and do her best. That's all anyone can do.

 

** Love **

Lucas knows that his sisters wish he would lighten up on them sometimes. But he isn't going to: he wants them to be ready to face the world, but nothing will improve if all he does is coddle. They won't advance, they won't succeed, they won't  _thrive_  if he doesn't push them: gently or not. Sometimes, what's best for someone, isn't the road they want to take. Parent's do things like making children eat vegetables because those vegetables are good for you. Even if they are a little bitter.

 

** Charity **

Clara is always willing to offer the hand you need. Whether she's putting aside her own desires to help or finding a way to get someone back on their feet: Clara is always ready and able. She'll never ask for any reward, or for the score to be evened in some way. Just a thank you will suffice. If someone must return the favor, Clara would rather they 'paid it forward': that they pay her back, by helping out someone else for nothing in return. Of course, hugs are also acceptable.

 

** Kindness **

Kim is not weak, and she is not naïve. It would be better to describe her as the calm in the center of a storm: steady and bright no matter the chaos. It’s true that she’s an optimist, and always sees the best in others. Finding the silver lining in any situation is a talent she is very gratified to have. Sometimes it’s easy to know when the best time is to tell a painfully bad joke or go for a tackling hug. Other times, its harder to know what’s best to do. How do you comfort a grieving child?

 

** Diligence **

Even though her siblings are only teasing, Diana admits that she can come off as ‘neurotic’, but she actually isn’t a perfectionist. Diana just thinks that if you’re already going to do something, then why not take the time and energy to do it right? Its one thing to try and fail, but a completely different thing to redo a slapdash job. Not only do those 30 seconds saved now always seem to cost hours later, but you didn’t even try your hardest. To Diana, that’s unbelievably sad.

 

** Temperance **

For Taylor, it's all about the golden mean; about having nothing in excess. Pushed too far virtues become vices and completely normal emotions become sins: bravery becomes foolishness and all that. Of course, constant positivity can just be willful blindness to the world and oneself. Negative emotions are a part of being human: of being alive. Everyone feels angry or jealous at times, but its when they hold those emotions and let them fester, that they become truly bad.

 

** Forgiveness **

For someone who is so young, at least by her family’s standards, Felicity often acts far older than she really is. She's become a peacekeeper of sorts amongst her siblings: the one who is best a mediating a dispute, but Felicity can’t heal the hurt. It often comes down to time and distance, even when those responsible for the harm admit their fault and try to mitigate the damage.  Occasionally, the only true resolution to a conflict can happen when the injured party and the perpetrator go their separate ways. Acknowledging that someone’s painful actions no longer hold power over you doesn’t mean welcoming them back into your life, and sometimes, no number of “I’m Sorry”s can save a relationship. 

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't really checked whether or not the Virtues being personified is a thing on the archive, but there were a couple on Fanfiction.net. For me, I thought of the idea when listening to a study program about Virtues and Sins by Bishop Barron.
> 
> The point of this exercise was the write about the Virtue without actually naming it. Forgiveness was certainly the hardest not to name, but Diligence was probably the hardest to define. Maybe because Sloth is harder to define than the other sins. I eventually settled for the idea that Sloth is apathy. Think Doldrums from the Phantom Tollbooth crossed with a lack of care about anything that is done.


End file.
